Halloween is upon us, and if you happen to live in a country that celebrates this, the most goth day of the year, then I’m willing to bet your primary concerns right now are either Pumpkin shortages, or what in the name of Lucifer you’re going to dress as.

If in doubt, a paper bag over the head is a sure fire winner

Assuming that you’ll be avoiding all those nasty heteronormative clichés (no punk would ever lump for sexy vampire / zombie / witch now, would they?!) like the plague, you could do a lot worse than look to the wildest ever dressed scene for some inspiration. Of course, we’re talking about LA Punk circa 1977-79. As you’ll be wanting to differentiate from this kind of heinous shittery, you’ll need to get specific.

Brendan Mullen’s book ‘Live at the Masque: Nightmares in Punk Alley’ documents the

Dress you and your girlfriends up as Castration Squad and rage in the streets?

bands, events and outfits of this scene, from anonymous lurkers to Darby himself, quite often in rare technicolour detail. In addition to this, a radical lady and obsessive archivist of this period is none other than Alice Bag, whose Flickr feed provides a motherlode of OG snapsnots of subterranean self-styled freaky legends.

If you ask me, these combos are way too good to keep to one day of the year, so draw on a Germs Burn, talc up your face a little, and get outlandish!

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